Years ago, I temped for about six months in an office where an artificial evergreen tree in one lobby was always on display, decorated for Valentine’s Day, Easter, Memorial Day, or any other event that the tree’s owner felt like observing. I’m not sure whether that creative person or even the holiday mashup artists over at Hobby Lobby would have ever thought of this decoration that reader Jason recently shared with Consumerist, though. [More]

Rob bought a TV from Groupon Goods, and found himself in a weird dilemma where Groupon promised that his new TV would have a manufacturer’s warranty. He had no reason not to believe them until something actually went wrong with the TV. Samsung told him a few different things: that they don’t warranty items bought online, or that his television came from Mexico or Canada. What? [More]

Reader Aaron was intrigued. He likes both Mountain Dew and Cheetos, and learned from our site that an unholy hybrid of these two products was now available in snack food form in Japan. He knew what he had to do: order them and eat them. [More]

Reader Kathy sent along this photo that she took at Walmart. She found this display kind of puzzling, and for good reason. “Seriously? So suddenly soda is ‘wholesome and healthy’?” she writes. “Yeah right… good one, Walmart.”

You may remember reader Linda, who ordered a computer from Kmart with 2-day shipping as a Christmas gift for her mother. Kmart’s idea of “2-day shipping” that they charge extra for turned out to be “2-week shipping” once they actually got around to shipping the computer. That wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t, you know, a Christmas gift, and if Kmart planned to ship it before December 24th. Based on the information in the post, the nice people at Kmart’s executive customer relations department tracked Linda down, which is impressive and only a little bit unnerving.

Reader HogwartsProfessor has one of the rarest of all consumer stories to share: a positive story about an item left behind on a plane and airline employees. Yes, the problem was entirely her fault, but their staff on the ground were kind and helpful, creating a chain of kindness that reunited H.P. with her wallet and got her on the next plane with no extra fees.

Emily is a law student, and she spent last summer doing lawyer-type work and earning lawyer-type money. She mistakenly set up her withholding as if she were earning that much money year-round, though, so the government owes her a pretty sweet refund now that she’s returned to the poor, ascetic life of a student. She even filed her taxes super early so she can get that money back. Only the IRS has flagged her for extra-special review, delaying her refund, and no one she can get in touch with seems to care. “You should just get another job,” one helpful representative told her.

Everyone knows that “heart-shaped” items don’t look anything like the big lump of muscle in mammals’ chests that pumps blood around. But heart-shaped things are cute. Every year, Papa John’s tries to produce a heart-shaped pizza. And every year, it’s a heart-clogger shaped more like an actual anatomical heart. Mozzarella cheese is a cruel medium.

Sears, Sears. We know that you’re desperate. But acting clingy and desperate is no way to win over customers, especially the ones who have just made a purchase in your store. While it seems like every retailer is pushing their service plans on customers, they don’t usually resort to phone stalking, like what you did to your poor customer Mike. He had to resort to contacting the FTC and your corporate offices about the stalking.

It’s over, Sears. You should have taken the hint one of the first few dozen times you called. Now Mike really never wants anything to do with you again.

Sure, you should research purchases ahead of time, but discovering new things while shopping out in the real world can be fun. Reader HogwartsProfessor was browsing the electronics section at Walmart and had some questions about a Roku. Two associates told her that no, the devices only work if you have a wifi-enabled TV. This isn’t true, as she learned: the point of the Roku is that it is the device that streams Internet content to your TV.

Reader Gail read our post last week about a mysterious benefactor who paid off $500 worth of layaway tabs for random strangers at a Michigan Kmart. She found it inspiring, but in a different way from most readers: the story actually inspired Gail and her husband to visit local discount stores and do the same exact thing for some families in her area. She shared how the experience works from the benefactor’s end. “I can’t remember the last time spending $100 made me feel so good!” she wrote. Here’s the best part: she’s not the only one doing this.

Melissa couldn’t get any reception around her home on her iPhone, despite living only 25 miles from downtown Chicago. Zero bars. It wasn’t just annoying to always miss calls, it was also damaging her rental business. But thanks to a detailed, and snarky, email to the CEO of AT&T, she was able to get the wireless provider to reset its towers and fix the service around her house.

While Bank of America’s now-abandoned plan to charge debit card users $5 a month has received a halogen spotlight recently, far less attention has been paid to how it collects fees off the unemployed. In some states, unemployment benefits are issued via Bank of America debit cards. States save money by not using paper checks, but the unemployed lose out from all the fees hiding in the cards.